Milwaukee Brewers |

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) – Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig says he
couldn’t resist the pleas of team owners for him to stay on the job. His wife
Sue has said all along there was no way her husband would walk away from the
game.

In the end, she was right.

Owners voted 29-1 on Thursday to give Selig a two-year contract extension
through the 2014 season.

Selig has held the position since 1992, first as interim commissioner and
then as commissioner since 1998. He will turn 80 in July 2014.

40222 selig ap Selig gets 2 year extension through 2014 (AP)

If he stays until September 2016, he would surpass Kenesaw Mountain Landis
(1920-44) as the longest-serving baseball commissioner.

“I’ve often said, and I believe this, for me personally in my life there’s
no higher honor than being the commissioner of baseball,” Selig said.

Selig’s contract had been due to expire this Dec. 31 and he had talked of
doing some teaching after leaving the job. But he said he began hearing lately
from owners who wanted him to stay on.

“I started hearing a couple of weeks ago that there was a groundswell
movement to do this,” he said. “`You can’t leave now.’ I’d hear from various
owners.”

.He said he reached the decision after thinking about it over the holidays,
although he acknowledged his wife had been right when she said all along that he
wouldn’t be stepping down this year.

`In the end, doing what’s in the best interest of baseball – if this many
people believe that and feel that – is something that I felt I should do,” he
said.

Asked how he felt to have so many want him to stay on the job, Selig said,
“You can’t pay a human being a better compliment than that. If they really
believe that, I’m just grateful. Very, very grateful.”

Owners deferred a vote on the proposed transfer of the San Diego Padres from
John Moores to Jeff Moorad, saying they need clarification on some financial
information.

Because Selig’s extension wasn’t on the agenda for the meeting, owners took
a unanimous consent vote to allow its approval. Moores, upset that the Padres’
sale was not approved, voted no, a person in the room said, speaking on
condition of anonymity because the details were supposed to remain confidential.

Owners took a second vote, giving notice of the extension, but a vote that
will not be effective for 10 days. The extension was approved 29-1, with Moores
again voting against it.

Selig said he wants the Padres sale issues resolved “expeditiously.”
Moorad said he respects the process and is working to resolve the concerns.

Selig, then owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, became interim commissioner when
Fay Vincent was ousted in 1992. Six years later, the interim was removed his
title.

Selig repeatedly has said since 2006 that his retirement is imminent but
also acknowledged almost no one believed him.

Under his leadership, after years of turmoil, baseball has become the most
stable of major North American professional sports, achieving labor peace
following eight work stoppages from 1972-95. With prodding from Congress, MLB
and its players established tough anti-performance enhancing drug rules.

The game added a wild card team for the playoffs in the mid-1990s and
instituted video reviews of home run calls in 2008. The Houston Astros agreed to
move to the American League for the 2013 season, balancing the leagues at 15
teams apiece.

Players and owners have agreed to add a second wild-card team to each
league’s playoffs, and Selig said he is “very hopeful” that can happen this
season.

“In the last decade and a half, Bud has really enabled us to do great
things,” Philadelphia Phillies president Dave Montgomery said. “I think his
greatest asset is he’s brought us together as a group of owners to understand
issues and then set direction that has enabled us to move forward quite well.
When you think of the changes that have been made during his tenure, it’s pretty
remarkable for a game that was thought to be pretty staid not that long ago.”

Selig said that resolving whether the Oakland Athletics can move to a
proposed new ballpark in San Jose “is very much on the front burner.” Selig
declined to give details. The San Francisco Giants have territorial rights to
San Jose and a committee appointed by Selig has been studying the situation
since March 2009.

AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP)—Baseball owners say Commissioner Bud Selig will be offered a
contract extension at this week’s meetings in Phoenix.

ESPN.com first reported that Selig will be offered an additional term when
owners meet Wednesday and Thursday in Scottsdale, Ariz. Two owners, speaking on
condition of anonymity so as not to attract criticism from Selig, told The
Associated Press on Tuesday that a new term will be proposed.

Owners also intend to approve the completion of the sale of the San Diego
Padres from John Moores to Jeff Moorad

7dbee crane ap Owners to offer Selig contract extension (AP)

Selig has been commissioner since September 1992 and would surpass Kenesaw
Mountain Landis for longest tenure in September 2016. Selig repeatedly has said
he intends to retire in December but also admits almost no one believes him.

Selig, who turns 78 in July, became acting commissioner in September 1992,
when clubs forced out Fay Vincent. After saying he wouldn’t take the job, Selig
was elected to a five-year term as permanent commissioner in 1998 and gave up
running the Milwaukee Brewers, the team he bought in 1970 and his family sold in
2005.

Owners voted in November 2001 to extend his term through 2006, then voted in
August 2004 to extend it through 2009. Although he first said in 2006 that he
intended to retire at the end of that term, in January 2008 he accepted an
extension through 2012.

Before Game 7 of the World Series in October, Selig again said he planned to
leave this year but admitted few thought he would. Sitting in the front row of
the news conference room, Sue Selig nodded her head.

“Starting with my wife, I’m happy or sad to say, but she’s somewhat
skeptical,” he said.